The application of appropriate rules for drug–drug interactions (DDIs) could substantially reduce the number of adverse drug events. However, current implementations of such rules in tertiary hospitals are problematic as physicians are receiving too many alerts, causing high override rates and alert fatigue. We investigated the potential impact of Korean national DDI rules in a drug utilization review program in terms of their severity coverage and the clinical efficiency of how physicians respond to them. Using lists of high-priority DDIs developed with the support of the U.S. government, we evaluated 706 contraindicated DDI pairs released in May 2015. We evaluated clinical log data from one tertiary hospital and prescription data from two other tertiary hospitals. The measured parameters were national DDI rule coverage for high-priority DDIs, alert override rate, and number of prescription pairs. The coverage rates of national DDI rules were 80% and 3.0% at the class and drug levels, respectively. The analysis of the system log data showed an overall override rate of 79.6%. Only 0.3% of all of the alerts (n = 66) were high-priority DDI rules. These showed a lower override rate of 51.5%, which was much lower than for the overall DDI rules. We also found 342 and 80 unmatched high-priority DDI pairs which were absent in national rules in inpatient orders from the other two hospitals. The national DDI rules are not complete in terms of their coverage of severe DDIs. They also lack clinical efficiency in tertiary settings, suggesting improved systematic approaches are needed.
Drug Utilization Review ; Drug-Related Side Effects and Adverse Reactions ; Fatigue ; Humans ; Inpatients ; Prescriptions ; Tertiary Care Centers*

Primary pericardial malignant mesothelioma (PPM) is a very rare malignancy, with an incidence of less than 0.002% and represents less than 5% of all mesotheliomas. The cause of pericardial mesothelioma is uncertain that differ from pleural mesothelioma which is associated with asbestos exposure. This malignancy is terribly aggressive and has very poor prognosis with less than six months of overall survival. We present a case of a 71-year-old woman who was diagnosed with cardiac tamponade caused by PPM and received chemotherapy with pemetrexed and cisplatin for six months. During two years she was alive without disease progression. To better understand the clinical, pathologic features and treatment outcome of this entity, we reviewed 23 cases described in the English literature from 2009, together with our case, provided a total of 24 cases. Based on this review, we suggest that PPM must be considered in patients who have unexplained massive pericardial effusion and recommend chemotherapy with pemetrexed and cisplatin for the better outcome of PPM.
Aged ; Asbestos ; Cardiac Tamponade ; Cisplatin* ; Disease Progression ; Drug Therapy ; Female ; Humans ; Incidence ; Mesothelioma* ; Pemetrexed* ; Pericardial Effusion ; Prognosis ; Treatment Outcome

Cerebral air embolism is a rare but potentially life-threatening complication. We experienced a living-donor liver transplant recipient who presented with unexpected cerebral air embolism and transient neurologic abnormalities that subsequently developed just after the removal of the pulmonary artery catheter from the central venous access device. One day after the initial event, the patient's neurologic status gradually improved. The patient was discharged 30 days after liver transplantation without neurologic sequelae.
Catheters* ; Central Venous Catheters ; Embolism, Air* ; Humans ; Liver Transplantation ; Liver* ; Pulmonary Artery* ; Transplantation*

Background: F-18 Fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography (F-18 FDG PET), which can cover the body from the skull base to the thigh in one scan, is beneficial for evaluating distant metastasis. F-18 FDG PET has interested policymakers because of its relatively high cost. This study investigated the effect of the F-18 FDG PET reimbursement criteria amendment on healthcare behavior in breast cancer using an interrupted time series (ITS) analysis. Methods: We retrospectively analyzed the inpatient and outpatient data from Korea’s Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service (HIRA) from January 1, 2013 to December 31, 2018. ITS analysis was performed for the number of each medical imaging modality and the total medical imaging cost of the breast cancer patients. Results: The annual number of breast cancer patients has been increasing steadily since 2013. The trend of F-18 FDG PET increased before the reimbursement criteria was amended, but intensely decreased immediately thereafter. The chest and abdomen computed tomography scans showed a statistically significant increase immediately after the amendment and kept steadily increasing. A change in the total medical imaging cost for the breast cancer patient claimed every month showed an increasing trend before the amendment (β = 5,475, standard error [SE] = 1,992, P = 0.008) and rapid change immediately after (β = −103,317, SE = 16,152, P < 0.001). However, there was no significant change in the total medical imaging cost at the long-term follow-up (β = −912, SE = 1,981, P = 0.647). Conclusion Restriction of health insurance coverage for cancer may affect healthcare behaviors. To compensate for it, the policymakers must consider this and anticipate the impact following implementation.

OBJECTIVES: Adoption of hospital information systems offers distinctive advantages in healthcare delivery. First, implementation of consolidated hospital information system in Seoul National University Hospital led to significant improvements in quality of healthcare and efficiency of hospital management. METHODS: The hospital information system in Seoul National University Hospital consists of component applications: clinical information systems, clinical research support systems, administrative information systems, management information systems, education support systems, and referral systems that operate to generate utmost performance when delivering healthcare services. RESULTS: Clinical information systems, which consist of such applications as electronic medical records, picture archiving and communication systems, primarily support clinical activities. Clinical research support system provides valuable resources supporting various aspects of clinical activities, ranging from management of clinical laboratory tests to establishing care-giving procedures. CONCLUSIONS: Seoul National University Hospital strives to move its hospital information system to a whole new level, which enables customized healthcare service and fulfills individual requirements. The current information strategy is being formulated as an initial step of development, promoting the establishment of next-generation hospital information system.
Adoption ; Confidentiality ; Delivery of Health Care ; Electronic Health Records ; Hospital Information Systems ; Information Systems ; Management Information Systems ; Quality of Health Care ; Radiology Information Systems ; Referral and Consultation